BrentMpls

Sounds like a good time!! I think I'm going Sunday though

Sadly, I think it mostly goes unnoticed. There isn't a explanation printed with the rules, so few know why. Meanwhile the player gets x amount of dollars for signing the deal, and can still sign autographs for people, for profit or free, just not certain kinds of will inscriptions or items. By in large it mostly only impact collector's in the know. Although it sure sucks if little Johnny shows up with a baseball bat only to find hes turned away because his favorite player made some bucks on the side.

I have a sinking feeling about this

They signed a deal with some person or business to only allow that collector/seller to sell autographed items of that nature. If one were willing to pay for an autograph (many you can acquire for free if you watch the player appearances section of the Twins website and are willing to drive out to a Lunds, Sports Authority or other such place on your lunch break) the Twins Autograph Party was the best deal - $35 or $40 (there was a slight discount for STH members) to get as many autos as you can in a 4-5 hour time period with tables setup all over. But they silently canned that after the 2010 season.

Nope

Yup. Sid's comments about Jack were spot on too. Reusse, as usual, showed his venomous side when asked why he wouldn't vote for someone the first time they are on a ballot if he doesn't like them for x reason. Mackey saying he wouldn't vote for Morris during the week, claiming he wasn't the dominent pitcher of the 80's was truly mind boggling.

They needed to do something to energize the fan base, and didn't. Signing Zack Greinke would be a good example of something along those lines. With 2 bad seasons 3 years into a new ballpark, and the Wild showing that some owners in this town are willing to drop the big bucks, you have to show life. After a certain point there wasn't much left to grab, and at that point I do feel like it would be spending just to spend. The real issue here was not acting fast on the big dollar guys available. Yes, you're overpaying. It sucks. But you have to weigh it with everything going on, and 2 years of suck with more to come, and other teams stepping up (Wild, Wolves) it would be nice to see some life from my favorite team in my favorite sport. Right now the most exciting thing going on for the Twins is Target Field hosting the All-Star game next year. You have to have more than that going on for your ballclub.

Thanks for the update! 17 days to go until the last day of TF

When I saw Blackburn signing autographs in 2010 a guy and his little boy were getting something signed - the dad said "Look son, a real major league baseball player!" to which Blackie replied "eh... sorta". Shorty thereafter he was in Rochester. Last year Ryan sighted confidence as one of the reasons Blackie was in Rochester again. Talent aside, I don't think he has the mental gumption to be an ace, no matter how unlikely his physical performance might be in that direction.

The sad thing about this is whatever you think of Mauer (and Mourneu) is that we wont be making any serious runs in their prime years.

I've enjoyed these in the past - any word if Seth & Co are producing one this year? Twinsfest is getting awful close.

Electronic. If it was a paper book, it would cost at least $40. O_o

Another Bulldog NE fan here. My favorite I would have to say is Snuffy's, especially the Roseville one. Great burger, great fries, great malts, great atmosphere. Simple, a bit run down (for the last 20 years) but fun stuff.

I sure hope not

Why would he not want to play in the minors? Millions of dollars are nice.

Sad to see this happen to Blackburn, but if he's making statements like that, this is probably for the best. I remember in 2010 a couple weeks before he was sent down to Rochester I was within earshot of him when he was signing a ball for a kid and the parent said "look, there is a real major league baseball player!" to his son before Blackburn took the ball to sign it, and when he heard that, Blackburn said "Kind of".

I'd prefer that too, but it aint gonna happen Retractable is the best hope for any chance of having some games outdoors

It may be too far along to back out now, but it doesn't look good right now. They are locked in to 2020 I believe, but you can believe they will be out of there after that if they don't get this. Some media speculate spring training in general will be totally west coast in 10 years.

There was a strib article about the 3 most likely candidates, Target was one of them. Retractable roof would be great - hopefully they open it once in a while, football should be played outside.

That is fine and good, but I wasn't commenting on having the Twins games broadcast on a rock station - I was talking about how you will have to flip stations on Sundays to hear the manager show on AM 1500 and then to FM 96 for the game. I've never heard of having official programming split up like that. Now having games broadcast on non-sports stations (in this case 'modern contemporary' or whatever the latest format for the struggling station is) is a whole 'nuther issue. Also as you pointed out - football isn't baseball. Totally different and shouldn't be compared IMHO. I hope the Braves aren't a model for anything - despite having past success Atlanta area is notorious for having a poor fan base and being a bad sports town in general. Too many transplants and transients. I'm sure it has - again not the issue I was talking about exactly. Also comparing other sports and other areas isn't apples to apples, but the times are a changin'. This is a first for this area. I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here. I never called it a format. The manager show, the hot stove show, and all the other official sanctioned Minnesota Twins subsidiary programming occurs because of the Twins. The main point I was trying to make is its pretty odd that you have to switch bands and stations to obtain programming from a single source. Sports talk never has been as popular as listening to music, by shoehorning games onto stations that do not provide sports talk for ratings will kill off sports talk on the radio. With the internet there are places like this that will become more and more important for sports fans to get their fix (as if they weren't already due to the quality of content) but losing it still sucks. Totally agree

They do when they want a specific programming. Never have I heard of a situation where official programming was split between multiple stations. Sure you can tune into KFAN for minuscule amount of Twins coverage, WCCO for their coverage, and ESPN 1500 for their coverage, but you tune into ESPN 1500 for the Twins sanctioned programming. The games, the shows, etc. Now it will be split. This isn't deciding if you want to listen to Dan Cole, Reusse & Mackey or Chad Hartman for their take and time devoted to topics, this is you dial jumping to get official Minnesota Twins programming. As far as I can remember, a first here in MN, and I haven't heard of that elsewhere. The fact that this is only guaranteed through 2013 tells me this is a experiment, whatever the reasons.

He tweeted "Excited to continue our partnership with @1500ESPN as the "Official home of Twins Talk" in 2013." - sounds like its a one year trial. Kinda odd on Sunday to turn on the RGS on 1500 really early, then a few hours later turn to 96 on the other band.

That is what he was quoted as saying after being let go in the article I linked in the other thread

He'll still be on the air, he just won't be obligated to butter up the Twins organization at every opportunity. Macky is horrible. Good riddance. FWIW he just tweeted that you will get a 'whole lot more' of the R&M show next march and that he still plans on going to ft myers

Terry Ryan was on before the ballgame last night and said that Parmelee will stay in the minors so he can play everyday rather than be called up and get sporatic play. Unless someone gets hurt it doesn't sound like he'll be up. The problem with this theory is that most of the minor leagues seasons end the 1st week of September. So if Parmelee isn't called up in September, he won't be playing at all. Thats true - there was also emphasis on giving Mastroianni more play time as well. Time will tell what they do of course.